So with our last post we talked a little bit about making first impressions lasting ones because if you don’t make a good first impression with either your guests, potential buyers, or anyone else who is seeing your house then this could be a final deal breaker at the end of the day. This is something we obviously would like to avoid at all costs and we can help put this into a little bit more perspective by role playing for a second time.

Think About Your Last Vacation or Hotel Stay

See if this sounds like a familiar scenario for anyone else out there:

You book a vacation and take the time to do your proper research when looking for the perfect hotel or vacation home to stay in. You looked online for days and finally found the perfect spot for you and your family and you couldn’t be more excited.

Then the day finally comes when you get to the hotel only to find that it looks nothing like the pictures you saw online and it is obvious that they were taken years ago. Now your vacation is started off on a horrible foot and the mood is just ruined. First impressions really do make all of the difference and some basic upkeep and maintenance can go a very long way for guests. Now even though we here at Chicago Homes Market specialize in the residential real estate market, some of our staff have experience working with commercial real estate properties as well and they may seem very different but in fact, they are very similar in many aspects.

Many of our agents cannot stress enough the importance of standard maintenance from professional contracting teams even though they may not always seem necessary or that important. We have referred many of these teams to clients, among which are these commercial roofers who have helped a number of our agents completely transform properties and really make the difference in an easy sell. There are many places you can look for additional information on whether you should fix or replace certain things on your home or building and they can be the difference you needed to make your home stand out!

Imagine yourself as a first time home buyer (which some of you very well may be!). What types of things are you going to be looking for when you pull up to what you hope to be your dream house that’s for sale? Now there are many different answers that could be given and a lot of it is obviously personal preference, but what we can all agree on is that you want the home to be in as good of condition as possible as soon as you pull up!

What Will They See First?

So the exterior of the house is obviously going to be the first thing that your potential buyer sees (unless it’s a blind auction, but that’s a whole other subject). Keeping that in mind, you want to make sure that the first impression that you make is a good one and one that is going to stick in their heads as they continue on looking at other homes for sale.

Continuing our theme from earlier and giving an applicable example, hiring professional roofing companies (like the one seen here) can potentially add thousands of dollars to your homes value. We recently hired a sewer line replacement for our apartment and the estimated home value that we saved is in the 6 figures.

If it is painfully obvious that the husband of the house strapped on his tool belt and did “the best he could” on any parts of the house (especially the roof!), any serious buyer will almost certainly be turned away to better kept homes.

On our last post we ended with a little subject that is very important and should be talked about in more detail (click here if you missed it). If you are in the process of selling your home, or any home owner for the matter, it is very important that you don’t try to take on any tasks that might be a little over your capabilities. We can’t tell you how many people we have seen over the years begin a home renovation project and within a week there has been more damage than when they began.

When in Doubt, Call

Maybe there are some ladies out there reading this who have found themselves stuck with a stubborn and confident husband, believing they are able to build a house from scratch with his bare hands.

While there very well may be a lot out there who are more than capable of doing so, more often than not there will be a home inspection agency who would be able to write a book on missed steps or things that are not up to code, eventually costing you more money than you anticipated.

In order to avoid these situations, you should always call and get a second opinion from a licensed contractor who specializes in the work that you are trying to do. The majority of them are willing to come and give you a free quote and inspection on the job so there really is nothing to lose.

Now that you got our little introduction on the benefits of owning your own home, we can change gears a little bit and talk to those out there who are already home owners and are interested in selling. Both the buying and selling process can be very tedious and time consuming but this is especially true for selling.

House Exterior

Needless to say, the more work (and as a result, money) that you put into your home and property the higher the overall value and your rate of return will ultimately be.

Don’t cut any corners if you are having any major renovations or repairs done to your home because any reputable home inspection agency will be thrilled to bring them to any potential buyer’s attention.

This is why it is imperative that you hire contractors and home improvement experts that have a reputation and portfolio to back them up with. Superiorroofingil.com – Roof Replacement & Repair is an example of a professional, honest, and reputable company that we have been recommending to our clients for years in the Chicago area. Believe us when we say that investing in a professional home improvement or renovation company is always a worthy one to make.

If you don’t have the experience it takes to handle any major home repairs or renovations then don’t try to learn before you decide to put your home on the market. Not only can this be deceitful to potential buyers, but it can also be dangerous! It is best to leave this kind of work to the professionals.

Income Tax Savings

Because of income tax deductions, the government is basically subsidizing your purchase of a home. All of the interest and property taxes you pay in a given year can be deducted from your gross income to reduce your taxable income.

For example, assume your initial loan balance is $150,000 with an interest rate of eight percent. During the first year you would pay $9969.27 in interest. If your first payment is January 1st, your taxable income would be almost $10,000 less – due to the IRS interest rate deduction.

Property taxes are deductible, too. Whatever property taxes you pay in a given year may also be deducted from your gross income, lowering your tax obligation.

Stable Monthly Housing Costs

When you rent a place to live, you can certainly expect your rent to increase each year – or even more often. If you get a fixed rate mortgage when you buy a home, you have the same monthly payment amount for thirty years. Even if you get an adjustable rate mortgage, your payment will stay within a certain range for the entire life of the mortgage – and interest rates aren’t as volatile now as they were in the late seventies and early eighties.

The Best Investment

As a fairly general rule, homes appreciate about five percent a year. Some years will be more, some less. The figure will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and region to region.

Five percent may not seem like that much at first. Stocks (at times) appreciate much more, and you could earn over six percent with the safest investment of all, treasury bonds.

But take a second look…

Presumably, if you bought a $200,000 house, you did not pay cash for the home. You got a mortgage, too. Suppose you put as much as twenty percent down – that would be an investment of $40,000.

At an appreciation rate of 5% annually, a $200,000 home would increase in value $10,000 during the first year. That means you earned $10,000 with an investment of $40,000. Your annual “return on investment” would be a whopping twenty-five percent.

Of course, you are making mortgage payments and paying property taxes, along with a couple of other costs. However, since the interest on your mortgage and your property taxes are both tax deductible, the government is essentially subsidizing your home purchase.

Your rate of return when buying a home is higher than most any other investment you could make.

If you are moving to a home for the first time, you are going to be very pleased with all the new space you have available. You may have to even buy more “stuff.”

If you currently own property and are thinking of listing it on the market, this site contains information about preparing your home for sale, selecting the right agent, pricing your home appropriately, marketing it effectively, going through the inspection processes, and receiving a timely market evaluation. If you own your home and your home or property is being Foreclosed on I may be able to the STOP FORECLOSURE!!

INFORMATION FOR ANYONE

There are a number of ways that a buyer and/or seller can maximize the potential of your home’s value. Many of the tips and tricks that you will read about here at Chicago Homes Market will help stop foreclosure and help bring you in the money you deserve for your investment. At the end of the day, every single home buyer out there is hoping to make some money off of their home in the future and what we will be talking about on our page is going to help make sure that happens.

From remodeling to hiring the perfect contractor, we are going to cover as many bases as we can in terms that anyone can comprehend. We know that real estate and the housing market isn’t everyone’s passion in life but it has been for us for over 15 years. We will be using actual experience and loads of knowledge to help make the buying or selling process as profitable as possible for our readers.